The Clippers’ Danilo Gallinari, right, dribbles past the Celtics’ Kyrie Irving during the first half of Monday’s game at Staples Center. He didn’t play Tuesday against Portland, he said, because he was dealing with pain in his left foot. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

PLAYA VISTA — Danilo Gallinari wanted to be clear: He wasn’t off Tuesday. He wasn’t kicking back with this feet up when the Clippers took on the Portland Trail Blazers without him.

He was working – on his left foot, which recently had been causing him pain.

“My foot was hurting the last week, so I needed to take care of this problem and now it’s going to be fine,” said the Italian forward, whose absence prior to Tuesday’s loss was described by team personnel as “rest,” and afterward by Coach Doc Rivers as a “very light” twisted ankle.

“I mean, I don’t know about rest,” Gallinari added. “I don’t think that ‘rest’ is in our vocabulary right now. Just so you guys know, I didn’t take any rest the last game. I don’t know what the (physical trainers) told you, or what anybody told you, it wasn’t rest.”

Gallinari, 30, entered this season having been robbed of a third of his regular-season NBA games by injuries, including by hand and glute injuries that sidelined him for all but 21 games last season, his first with the Clippers.

Fortunately for the team, the versatile 6-foot-10 veteran has been healthy most of this season, which has been one of his finest yet. Gallinari is shooting a career-best 45.7 percent from the field, grabbing a career-high 5.9 rebounds per game and has played 57 of the Clippers’ 69 contests.

Back spasms cost him 10 games from mid-January to early February, but otherwise he’s missed one game because he was ill and then only Tuesday’s action while tending to the foot … that needed rest.

“OK, well, it wasn’t a rest day,” Rivers said. “His ankle was hurting and we just felt it’d be better for him to not further that.”

From the sound of it, the foot is better for having been given a game off.

“It’s gonna be good for Friday,” Gallinari said, adding there is “nothing to be concerned about.”

Otherwise, he emphasized: “I don’t need any rest, I’m ready to go. We don’t need any rest. Days off like this are good practice, but we ain’t resting.”

The Clippers were, however, preparing for Friday’s game against Chicago without forwards JaMychal Green and Wilson Chandler, both of whom were out sick Thursday.

CLIPPER LIMELIGHT

Anyone tuning in to NBA-related programming over the past few days likely caught a member of the Clippers sharing thoughts on their surprising season, in which, with 13 games to go, they have the eighth-best record in the Western Conference.

Lou Williams spoke of chemistry on ESPN’s “The Jump”: “We have a really good culture with the Clipper organization, with have some really great personalities in our locker room, and on top of all that, we have some guys who want to prove their names.”

Montrezl Harrell was on Colin Cowherd’s “The Herd,” talking about some untoward interactions he’s had with fans.

“When you physically do something to a player or go beyond the lines, bringing a loved one into it, or someone’s family, you gotta understand, these are privileges for these guys to be sitting in these seats,” said Harrell, making the case that a front-row seat doesn’t give someone the right to attack a player.

And Patrick Beverley appeared on “SportsCenter” on Wednesday, telling Scott Van Pelt, “I just don’t like a lot of NBA players for some odd reason.”

“Pat was on SportCenter?” Rivers asked Thursday. “Oh my Lord. … I guess as long as I stay in my cocoon, I’m good. ’Cause I didn’t know that. Good for Pat. He deserves that.”

Rivers said he views the uptick in attention as positive for his players.

“I think in the day and time of what do they call it, their ‘brand’ and all that stuff? I think it’s all good,” he said. “Listen, there’s nothing wrong with doing any of that stuff, as long as you keep the focus. If we lose who we are, we’re not going to be a good team, and we know that.”

Mirjam Swanson covers the Clippers and the NBA for the Southern California News Group. Previously, she wrote about LeBron James and the rest of the Dream Team at the 2004 Olympics (where, yes, they took bronze) and Tiger Woods’ last (for now) major championship. Most recently, she’s covered city government, education and the occasional bear in a backyard.